online mastering

Your post made no mention of the *limited time* "free" offer...which is a key point...and what my post was about.

You said because it's "free" it can be used as a benchmark to eventually put pay-for mastering out of business....but since it's only free for a limited time, I don't see how you can draw that broad a conclusion.
This isn't the first online service of this type...just like all the "fiver" crap that's out there...and I haven't seen real engineers going out of business over it. :D

It's made for many of the newbs and part-time dabblers who gauge almost everything by how cheap and convenient it is....little else.
 
You said because it's "free" it can be used as a benchmark to eventually put pay-for mastering out of business...

Feeling a little threatened?

It's free for as long as it's free, and for as long as it's free it can be used as a benchmark.
 
Feeling a little threatened?

Huh? :confused:
Ahh...that stuff doesn't threaten me in any way whatsoever.
Not sure why you think it would...?

I also seriously doubt that it threatens the mixing/mastering houses and engineers.
If anything...it could put out of business the home-brewed engineers that have cropped up all over the internet lately, doing cheap, online-only work out of their virtual "studios".
I mean, why pay some guy working out his bedroom to apply some mastering plugs to your tracks when you can get instant gratification cheaply with these new online services.

The people that use actual mixing/mastering studios...they will still go there, IMO.
 
The people that use actual mixing/mastering studios...they will still go there, IMO.

I think this is pretty much where it ends up. The bigger/biggest studios probably won't notice, but just about everyone else (including many of us here) will lose business as these types of solutions get more refined and the quality of their products improve. I see this as a trend, another unwelcome trend. Automation is encroaching on more and more of our lives, I can't see why music production would be the exception.

Did you put a raw mix through the site? It does an okay job, or at least it doesn't make the mix sound any worse (can't say that about ALL mastering engineers). While me or you may never have a use for it, someone doing rough mixes at home on a budget and without the ear, tools, studio monitors, etc could certainly find the results acceptable enough.
 
The bigger/biggest studios probably won't notice, but just about everyone else (including many of us here) will lose business as these types of solutions get more refined and the quality of their products improve.

...............

While me or you may never have a use for it, someone doing rough mixes at home on a budget and without the ear, tools, studio monitors, etc could certainly find the results acceptable enough.

I never expected things to go any different the minute studios became nothing more than very affordable, virtual environments.
With the huge explosion of home rec, and when everything's been reduced to a plugin...it wasn't going to take long for this sort of thing to happen. Cheap, convenient and fast....love it or hate it, that's where the majority of home rec has gone.

I mean...did anyone expect that of the millions of guys who suddenly felt they had a "studio", a good number wouldn't at some point want to open said studio for business...?...but, the same technology that made that possible, is now going to possibly take it away.

Personally...that doesn't really bother me or have any effect on me. I think that will only act as a filter to separate out part-time dabblers from the more involved musicians doing it regularly, and for the latter, a more proper mixing/mastering solution will always be the better/bigger draw...which is why the real mixing/mastering studios will not be put out of business.
This cheap online auto stuff will only clear out the virtual studio biz crowd...but again, you can't complain...because the technology that allows you to have a virtual studio biz is also why this is happening.

So...the solution is to have something more to offer than just being another guy with some plugs offering to apply said plugs to music.
I think in many ways (and something the home rec'rs don't often see) is that people will be drawn more toward what they don't have and what they are not able to do in their own homes. You have to provide more than what the average guy can now do himself.

Not that I'm planning on going into business with it...but that's why I've held onto, and still continue to use and evolve the physical/hardware side of my studio. I mean, it's because I've always thought about the business possibilities that's made me want to maintain and upgrade the hardware gear side of my studio.
Plugs and apps...everyone has those now days...and sure, you can try and sell the quality of your "product" and base your marketing on that alone...but it would have to be that much better than anyone else can do, or that this new online stuff can do.
Having another angle, something you can offer that others can't...that might keep you in the game over this online auto-mastering stuff.
 
Ok...I'll start with an apology...which is generally always the best way to start a conversation. I'm imagining this question gets asked repeatedly here but I can find it! Scouts honor.

I want to try out some online master services. I have no idea where to start. Who has the best combination of know how, customer service and price. Trying to keep it under about 100 USD per song and would also like a consultation on the current mix before submitting the ready to go mix for mastering.

Any recommendations?

Thanks!

I know your post was ages ago so I'll start my sentence with an apology too - sorry! I use a great online upload service with a company called Hafod Mastering. You can also go to the studio if you are near the location. Their rates are good and their experience is brilliant.

Hafod Mastering - Wales's best mastering studio - mastro gorau Cymru
 
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